Flite Carbon Version 2

The ultimate carbon wheelset: Massive grip, feather weight, and guaranteed for life including impact damage and broken spokes.

The Flite Carbon wheelset truly is the perfect all-rounder, and a personal favourite amongst staff and ambassadors alike. Impressively light for great accelerations and steep/lengthy climbs balanced with perfect stiffness for ultra-stable, enduro-like descending, it’s easy to see why it’s our most sought after product.

To improve your riding experience we’ve designed the tubeless rims wide enough to suit modern mountain bikes and modern tyres, but not so wide as to square-off tyres and create extra rolling resistance. We’ve pushed the industry’s best carbon rim producers to create rims that meet our high standards of exceptional durability, so we can back them with our lifetime warranty.

These wheels have been tested, thrashed, and abused by our customers and ambassadors around the world. Tom Bradshaw and Rae Morrison race the EWS on them, Kim Hurst set the woman’s Karapoti course record on them, and anyone who has met Rod Bardsley knows he won’t shut up about them.

“The feel of these Wheelworks Flite Carbon Trail wheels is bang-on that balance – stiff enough to be precise and sharp. Pliable enough to not rattle my teeth on choppy high-speed sections or repeated big-hit terrain.”

Trail vs Enduro

The version 2 Flite rim is offered into two models; the Trail and the Enduro. Both rims come from the same mold and are visually identical. The difference is in carbon lay-up and the type of resin used.

The Enduro rims use a more elastic resin which is better at absorbing impacts. This rim works best for pinners, heavier riders, or those who are hard on their gear.

The Trail rim is 40 grams lighter. This is our go-to rim and works on a wide range of uses from Down Country bikes like the Specialized Epic Evo or Yeti SB100 through to capable 150mm trail bikes..

We can also mix and match: A Trail on the front to save a few grams and an Enduro out back to deal with cased landings and not-so-smooth rock garden lines. This is the combo that Rae Morrison uses on her wheels.

Lifetime Warranty

The best warranty is the one you never need: in 2018 we had a grand total of 5 broken rims. This incredibly low failure rate is the reason we can offer a lifetime warranty, and why you can trust our wheels.

In all 5 cases the rims still held tubeless air. No rides were ruined or cancelled – in fact Tom Bradshaw did over 3000 vertical meters of descending when he cracked his rear wheel preparing for the Mammoth enduro.

Four of the damaged rims were from impact damage and one was from a rock piercing the sidewall.

Three of the riders didn’t notice their rims were cracked until loading their bike into the car. The rims could have been damaged for weeks but were still being ridden and working well.

The longest turn-around was 27 hours for us to replace a rim. The courier delivered the broken wheel on Tuesday morning but we didn’t manage to have it rebuilt and on the return courier until 3pm the next day.

24 hour Warranty turn-around

We prioritise any warranty work and make it the most important job in the shop. We aim to have all warranties dealt with within 24 hours because we know how much it sucks to not ride your bike.

We don’t need to wait for approval from an overseas head-office or wait for special ‘warranty stock’ to be sent out – we just fix your wheel. Fast.

After Sale Support

Our commitment to you doesn’t end once we’ve got your money: If you have any questions maintaining or servicing your wheelset we’re here to help. Just get in touch.

Each wheel we build is engraved with a unique number and we keep detailed records dating back over 13 years tracking not just who built your wheels but minute details like spoke length, pre-stress procedure, and even what type of grease was used between the spoke and nipple.

Flite vs Apex vs Stealth

All three of these models use the same carbon rim, have the same lifetime warranty, and are individually handbuilt just for you.

Flite: This is our top of the line build using DT Swiss Aerolite spokes. These spoke save 150 grams and give the wheelset a more lively, responsive feel but cost more money: A simple weight vs cost tradeoff. Your choice of hubs, colours, axle types, and wheel size.

Apex: We use round-section DT Swiss Competition spokes and a slightly simpler colourway to bring the price down while keeping the same complete choice of hubs and axle types as the Flite build.

Stealth: By reducing options we can reduce the price. Black decals, DT Swiss Competition spokes, and the excellent Dial hub make up the bones of this model. You still get to choose between Boost and non-Boost, Shimano or XD freehub body, and wheel size. No corners are cut: The Stealth wheels are still built to order and have the same amount of attention and love poured into them.

“This is a top quality wheelset, in fact they don’t come much better than this”

Rim Width

27.5″ rims are 34mm internal width and 29″ rims are 32mm internal width. Both rims are 30mm deep and have a hookless bead to shrug off impact damage.

Rim Size

Internal

External

Height

27.5″

34mm

40mm

30mm

29″

32mm

38mm

30mm

Tubeless Ready

Tubeless allows lower tyre pressure, more grip, and less punctures. It’s a no-brainer.

Tubeless rim-tape and a pair of light weight CNC aluminium tubeless valves are already fitted when you pull your new wheels out of the box. Our attention to detail extends to the tubeless valves: serrated lockrings makes them easy to fit or remove and integrated wrench-flats are provided for super-tight valves. The valve cores are removable for easy cleaning or for assistance while installing difficult tubeless tyres. The inner section of the valve is optimised for our rims ensuring an easy air-tight fit.